Yeditepe University has the advantage of being situated in Istanbul, the biggest city in Europe and the former capital of three empires (Eastern Roman, Byzantine and Ottoman); and a historical centre of Islam, Orthodox Christianity and Eastern Christianity. Since the fall of the Ottoman Empire, Istanbul has continued to be the major city, if not the titular capital, in a Republic, which has inspired 20th Century movements of national liberation and secular reform. As the commercial centre of modern Turkey, it continues to join the Balkans and Anatolia, the Black Sea and the Mediterranean. The people of Istanbul have roots, and continuing links with Central Asia, the Caucasus, the Middle East and Europe.

Modern Turkey has roots going back to the entry of Turks into Anatolia (Asia Minor) in the 10th Century, from Central Asia through Iran. In Anatolia they mingled with the existing Byzantine Empire, absorbing and adding to, the many Anatolian civilisations and cultures which have existed since earliest times including Hittites, Assyrians, Ionian Greeks, and Romans. The Ottoman conquests, from the 14th Century onward, took Turks into the Balkans, Central Europe, the Caucasus, the Black Sea periphery, the Middle East and North Africa. Current Turkey mingles all these influences after a long historical process of mutual transformation.